No.97 Inagi City 10 Big News in 2019

First of all, looking back on last year, the biggest news is that the Emperor of Heisei abdicated, Crown Prince Naruhito ascended to the throne on May 1, 2019, and the era name was changed to Reiwa.

The good news is that in February 2019 JAXA's Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully landed on the asteroid Ryugu, and in October 2019 Asahi Kasei's Yoshino won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing lithium-ion batteries. Honorary Fellow was elected.

The sad news is that in April 2019, a major fire broke out at Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris, causing the 96-meter-tall spire and most of the roof to collapse. In the fire at Shurijo Castle, eight buildings including the Seiden were destroyed.
In terms of overseas political situations, the second U.S.-North Korea summit meeting was held in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, in February 2019, and the third at Panmunjom on the Korean Peninsula in June 2019, but ended in a breakup. In October 2019, North Korea conducted an SLBM test launch for the first time in three years. With the outcome of the U.S.-China trade war uncertain, in September 2019 the two governments launched the fourth round of retaliatory tariffs, and in November 2019 the U.S. signed the Paris Agreement, an international framework for global warming countermeasures. Notifying the United Nations of its intention to withdraw, and the fact that the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Johnson, won a majority in the general election of the House of Commons in December 2019, paved the way for Brexit. I'm worried about becoming

Sports impressed us last year as well. In January 2019, Naomi Osaka won the Australian Open women's singles tennis tournament and became No. 1 in the world rankings, and in June 2019, Sani Brown Hakim won the US University Championships men's 100m final with a time of 9.97 seconds. Marking a new record, Rui Hachimura became the first Japanese to be drafted in the first round of the American Professional Basketball Association draft, and did a great job. In August 2019, Hinako Shibuno won her first British Women's Golf Open. In September 1999, the Rugby World Cup in Japan was held for the first time in Asia, and the Japanese national team won all four games in the qualifying league to reach the top eight for the first time. In November 2019, Samurai Japan defeated South Korea in the Premier 12 international baseball tournament for the first time. Both men and women performed very well and achieved great results, including winning the championship.
　
Next, we will look back on Inagi City's past year and present the 10 biggest news items.
1 Free early childhood education and childcare
Free admission will be implemented from October 2019 for children aged 3 to 5 and children aged 0 to 2 in households exempt from resident tax.
2 130th anniversary of the implementation of the Inagi village system
Since Inagi Village was established in 1896 through the merger of six villages, it has developed from a town to a city without merging with other municipalities.
3 Hirao 4-chome is born
With the completion of the Kamihirao land readjustment project, addresses were rearranged and a new town name was born.
4 Opening of Odara Tunnel/Sakahama Hirao Line
Roads connect Kurihira, Kawasaki City to Sakahama, and Shin-Yurigaoka to Wakabadai.
5 Annual number of iBus passengers exceeds 500,000
The number of passengers has steadily increased since the start of operation in 2002, reaching approximately 526,000 passengers in the year from April 2018 to March 2019.
6 Held a test event one year before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Cycling Competition (Road)
A test event was conducted with the same content as the actual event. Preparations are underway for the actual performance.
7 Full application of the Local Public Enterprises Act at Inagi City Hospital
In order to respond quickly and flexibly while maintaining stable management as a regional core hospital, authority has been transferred to business managers.
8 Opening a lifestyle support service base using vacant rooms in Tokyo residents’ housing
This is the first of its kind in Tokyo to effectively utilize the vacant space on the first floor of the Koyodai 6-chome housing complex.
9 Opening of Inagi Pair Park and creation of tourism resources through design manhole cover production
In the creation of the park as part of the land readjustment project around Inagi-Naganuma Station, the park was built with a pair of terraces, and one of the five design manhole covers produced as a tourism resource was installed near the park.
10 Support activities during typhoons No.15 and No.19
Typhoon No. 15 caused a long-term power outage in southern Chiba Prefecture, and we transported relief supplies to Kisarazu City and dispatched staff to Kimitsu City. A water tanker was dispatched to Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, where a large-scale water outage occurred due to flooding caused by Typhoon No. 19.
　
As an extra, I myself was re-elected for my third term in the mayoral election in April 2019. In addition, six new members were elected to the city council, resulting in a slight change in the face of the council. As citizen representatives, we will promote the development of Inagi City.
　
The top 10 news for 2019 are as follows. Last year's kanji was "Rei". The word "Reiwa" seems to have the meaning of culture being born and growing as people come together in a beautiful way. I pray that Reiwa 2, the beginning of a new era, will also be a year of new beginnings for all of you.